


Abstract Senses

by The Blue Escapist (theblueescapist)



Category: Points - Melissa Scott & Lisa A. Barnett
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2007-12-20
Updated: 2007-12-20
Packaged: 2018-01-25 07:16:01
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,037
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1638452
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/theblueescapist/pseuds/The%20Blue%20Escapist
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>Written for thermidor</p>
    </blockquote>





	Abstract Senses

**Author's Note:**

> Written for thermidor

### Prejudice

Philip Eslingen has never considered himself a racist. He knows Leaguers who'll spit and spread salt when having to deal with Chadroni, but he was a runaway long enough to understand the worth of truly free bread regardless of who gives it to you.

It's just coincidence he's never met a Silklander he could get along with; if he notices immediately that characteristic slant of the eyes or mess of curls, and shies away from it, it's simply because experience has taught him Silklanders trust slowly and backstab quickly.

Yet when Nicolas Rathe crosses his path again and again, Eslingen cannot help thinking it's a cosmic joke. Until he starts wondering how the untidy strands would feel in his hands, and his dreams are invaded by that bottomless gaze. 

It's then that he remembers it never made a difference to him at all.

 

### Eye

Nicolas Rathe has experienced enough frivolity on his own skin to last him a lifetime and he has neither time nor patience for it anymore. If he catalogs the long fingers or the broad shoulders of the soldier before him, it's just his job; there's nothing Rathe takes more pride in than doing it at his best. Clinically.

When he lies awake in his bed that night, he's thinking of what could be done to stop the riot he expects at the Old Brown Dog sooner or later, of what pieces he's missing that could help him find the children. His thoughts never stray back to that glossy hair, so thick and dark against that alabaster neck, or to the strong thighs that would do a classical statue proud.

He doesn't care for beautiful things; they don't mix well with him. 

He doesn't care about them at all.

 

### Tactic

Eslingen has survived more battles than he cares to remember, more than simple luck would allow. He doesn't feel the need to prove his intelligence: Dis knows those who see a soldier and automatically discard him as just brawn are not going to change their mind; those who bother to get to know him find out soon enough. Rathe realized it at once.

So Eslingen is clever; and he has a plan. He's going to show Rathe that they have interests in common, that it's not just work they can be good together at. That it can be a lasting arrangement. Only then he'll make a move.

He most certainly hasn't missed what Rathe is saying because he's been too busy staring at Rathe's lips; nor has he caught in his own the hand Rathe was waving to catch his attention and explored it with his thumb. He's a man with a plan and he's going to stick to it.

It's when Rathe's nostrils flare and his eyes go very, very dark, that Eslingen starts considering there might be a flaw in his scheme.

 

### Teeth

Rathe is aware that one of the side-effects of his job is a general disillusionment with life, but he's always considered it a more than reasonable price to pay for the wrongs he's put right, the lives he's helped save. He never hopes for more than he's given.

The man who pulled Eslingen out of his chair and dragged him all the way from Wicked's to Rathe's lodgings, who tore at Eslingen's clothes to get at that milky skin, who drew blood at the junction of Eslingen's neck and shoulders and who is currently riding him hard and fast while words of possession spew out of his mouth, that man?

It's not Rathe.

 

### Taming

Eslingen goes after what he wants. It's something that's defined him since he was a kid, greedy son of a loveless mother. He wanted the Legion, so he worked hard and climbed the ranks; he wanted more respect than he thought the Legion could give him, so he bided his time and then quit.

He's never wanted anything more than a life with Rathe and it scares him sick. More than his passion for Rathe, which he expected, more than his own desire to settle down, which he hadn't been completely unaware of, it's his abject terror of failing that blindsides him. Eslingen is not reckless, but he's always met danger head on. This cowardice is not like him.

Rathe is not helping. Every time he comes home he covertly takes in the way their belongings are nestled together as if he cannot believe his own eyes. Every time Eslingen notices and it makes him want to punch bloody whoever it was that made Rathe believe he wasn't worth the effort. It also twists the knife in the open wound of his anxiety.

He is Philip Eslingen, though, and what he wants, he fights to get. So he pushes back his own fear every time and proceeds to welcome Rathe in their home, in their life, in his arms.

One day, Eslingen will finally convince Rathe. That day, Eslingen will have convinced himself.

 

### Hands

Rathe knows that he's not an easy man to be with. He pulls impossible hours at the station and, more often than not, details from one case or another will pop in his mind and demand his immediate attention even when he's around. He makes up for it as well as he can, cooking favorite dishes and remembering important anniversaries; but it's been a serious issue with all his previous partners, often a determinant one.

Rathe is quite bewildered Philip doesn't mind. Philip doesn't complain when Rathe comes back to their lodgings and cannot talk about anything but his latest point; Philip listens and _makes useful suggestions_. Philip doesn't welcome him with accusations when he's later than agreed; he comes to bully Rathe home. Philip is proud of him and gets a fond smile on his handsome face when Rathe hasn't heard a word of what Philip was saying.

Philip is far from perfect; but Rathe realized early on that what he had with him was good, easily the best he's ever had, and in the secrecy of his mind he's whispered a word long before he dared pronounce it.

Before Philip, Rathe felt as if his loved ones were slipping away from him. With Philip, he's learning to grasp.


End file.
